OK Magazine To Launch Social Bingo App

This Promotion Has Expired.

No sooner do you find out about a brand new mobile bingo app then another pops out the woodwork. Earlier we mentioned that Come Dine With Me Bingo will soon be launching as a freemium mobile game powered by Nektan. Joining them will be OK Magazine who have teamed up with Dab Gaming to launch their own branded mobile bingo game.

Like Nektan, Dab Gaming builds games using the freemium payment model. This means the app will be free to download and use - however to access levels and enhance the experience, players will be invited to pay. Interestingly according to Start Ups, Dab Gaming reached "a sales agreement with Gibraltar-based real money casino specialist Nektan, which will see its games resold to consumers around Europe and the US." - which makes us wonder whether the Come Dine With Me Bingo game and OK version will simply be branded versions of the same thing?

That thing we suspect will be Bingo Dab - an app that's already available for iPhone and Android phones. Bingo Dab is described as the "#1 Skill Bingo Game" where you can win big jackpots in every room and get rewarded for the speed and accuracy of your bingo dabbing. A 75 ball version of the game is in the offing! There are in game purchases to enhance features.

If OK and even Come Dine With Me are going to be simply versions of this game then we're not overly convinced that either are going to set the world on fire. One of the joys of online bingo is that it's automated and you can therefore chat with other players - with Bingo Dab it's simply an electronic bingo card that you have to cross off as quickly as you can. When we tried the app as a guest player there was no chat nor any indication of how many players were involved. If you like playing bingo it's hard to see why you would choose this over Gala, Mecca etc.

Of course we may be wrong and the OK social bingo game and Come Dine With Me Bingo will be a lot different to Bingo Dab - we will naturally look at the games when they emerge. We suspect we may well be on the right lines though. We suspect that these two "social bingo apps" won't be the first to emerge in the coming months, but we do predict that they will struggle to engage with readers of the magazine and viewers of the show.

That said OK Magazine are not new to the gaming sector. They originally launched a white label bingo game on the Cyberbingo Network before moving to G2Tech (formerly St Minver and soon to become IGT). The brand has also put it's name to a scratchcard site too. Neither come up on our radar in terms of player interest but that doesn't always equate to popularity - although it's usually a decent enough barometer.

Perhaps in locales where gambling is prohibited - e.g The USA - these apps may be perfect, but in The UK where free bingo is pretty much the norm at most brands, it's hard to see how things will work out. Our prediction is that "just OK" is probably the best they will achieve.